2005-01-31 11:43:05 +00:00
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<chapter id="chapter-licensing-advisory">
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<title>GStreamer licensing</title>
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<sect1 id="section-application-licensing">
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<title>How to license the code you write for <application>GStreamer</application></title>
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<para>
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GStreamer is a plugin-based framework licensed under the LGPL. The reason
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for this choice in licensing is to ensure that everyone can use GStreamer
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to build applications using licenses of their choice.
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</para>
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<para>
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To keep this policy viable, the GStreamer community has made a few
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licensing rules for code to be included in GStreamer's core or GStreamer's
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official modules, like our plugin packages. We require that all code going
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into our core package is LGPL. For the plugin code, we require the use of
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the LGPL for all plugins written from scratch or linking to external
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libraries. The only exception to this is when plugins contain older code
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under more liberal licenses (like the MPL or BSD). They can use those
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licenses instead and will still be considered for inclusion. We do not
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accept GPL code to be added to our plugins module, but we do accept
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LGPL-licensed plugins using an external GPL library. The reason for
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demanding plugins be licensed under the LGPL, even when using a GPL
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library, is that other developers might want to use the plugin code as a
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template for plugins linking to non-GPL libraries.
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</para>
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<para>
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We also plan on splitting out the plugins using GPL libraries into a
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separate package eventually and implement a system which makes sure an
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application will not be able to access these plugins unless it uses some
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special code to do so. The point of this is not to block GPL-licensed
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plugins from being used and developed, but to make sure people are not
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unintentionally violating the GPL license of said plugins.
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2005-01-31 11:43:36 +00:00
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</para>
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<para>
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This advisory is part of a bigger advisory with a FAQ which you can find
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on the <ulink url="http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/licensing.html">GStreamer website</ulink>
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2005-01-31 11:43:05 +00:00
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</para>
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</sect1>
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</chapter>
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